Need Vs. Faith

One of the common things that lately I seem to hear a lot is the concept of need as a justification for lack of faith. Today as I am writing this, it is a Tuesday afternoon and to be honest, I have heard the same justification, at least three times in the past two days.

Why is it that it is so easy for us to justify our desires as a need? Is that what God teaches us? From what I see in the Bible, the only need in our lives is following Jesus with all of our hearts. The rest are just temporary things. Here is the truth, if we are not willing to give God all of our needs, then we don't really trust Him to be our provider and savior.

Here are a list of a few things I have heard this week:

• I need to drink alcohol. It is a need. 
• I need the money, so I can't give it to God.
• My sexual life is a result of a need, I have no way of controlling it. 

As you read this, go an and add the things that you say are your needs. My challenge for you who read this is this that you would identify the things in your life which you call a need, and see if they are opposing what God is teaching you to do. 

The only thing you need is Jesus. 

Psalm 9:10 

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Isaiah 55:1-2 

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.

He Intercedes

Are there times in your life were you are wordless? You want to pray, but words would not flow from you lips? Your mind is so troubled that it simply can't handle the pressure of  prayer added to it? So, what you do is try to pray, but you can't. You try to tell God how you feel, but you just cant.
Well, if you do feel like this at times, it's OK. I want you to know that you are not the only one!

There is some good news though. God's word tells us in Romans 8:26 that God's Spirit is aware of our weakness and when we are in those situations, His Spirit is interceding on behalf of us.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.(Romans 8:26)

So, next time when you are wordless, but you want to go before God, don't worry, because He already knows and His Spirit is already praying for what you can't pray for.
Isn't this great news? I find it absolutely amazing that my God is so great and loving that He knows my weaknesses and still provides a way for me to communicate with Him. 

What If It Hurts?

Are there times in your life where something just hurts you from deep within? Perhaps something that someone did, or a relationship just causes you to hurt. At times you feel like you want to cry, and you can't stop thinking about it. You just can't focus! You keep asking yourself, "When is it going to stop?", "Will I ever have peace?"

I wish I had a magical solution for this kind of pain, but the reality is that there is no cure other than God. There are times that you might feel all alone, yet He is with you and knows the hurt and pain in your heart. I know that you have probably heard what I am writing here before. Perhaps when you were hurt, some of your Christian friends told you to not worry because God will give you peace!

The reality is that God will truly give you peace, however, it is not always as you think it would be. Sometimes, pain and hurt is good for us to develop character and patience. So, here is my suggestion, if you are going through  a hurtful situation, remember that everything in this world is just temporary. Nothing lasts. There is only one thing about you that lasts forever an it is your soul. Make, the decisions to use the pain and hurt in your life, to draw closer to God. Forgive. Because you can spend eternity with Him.

James 1:12
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Greatness of His Sacrifice

If we truly understood the greatness of Jesus' sacrifice, then our lives would look much more different than they are now. Many can't stop but think to themselves, wasn't he God? The creator of everything? Then why is it a sacrifice to create a way for his creation to go to heaven?

Instead of asking the above question, ask yourselves, if God hates sin, why would he create a way for the sinner to come face to face with Him? Why would he love me and you? The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was the most difficult thing for God to do. God had to create a bridge between his holiness and our unholiness. A bridge that would cost Him a lot of pain and grief. A bridge that would cost His humiliation.   Think about this for a second, if you are the owner of of a very large company, would you humiliate yourself so you can raise the lowest of lows to be in the same office as you? Yet, the owner of existence humbled himself as a man. His sacrifice is something you and I will never understand because we barely live a life that represents sacrifice. Don't get me wrong, there are many people who live their lives for God and give up everything they have. They do it because they have understood a bit of what Jesus sacrifice was really meant to be, but for the most part, Christians just live their lives like anybody else. But like I said earlier, if we truly understood the greatness of Jesus' sacrifice, then our lives would look much more different than they are now.

Kindness Never Fails!

Many years ago, when I still lived in Iran, my dad and I along with a couple of my cousins went fishing in a small beautiful pond in the city of Babol (Northern Iran). While Fishing was my favorite thing to do, I always enjoyed goofing around and catching frogs or playing in the mud to find warms to use as bait.

In one occasion as we were fishing, one of the natives of that area, who spend most of his time around the pond to provide for his family, asked my dad for help with something. To be honest, I don't even remember what he needed, but I do remember that my dad was happy to help him. As soon as his problem was solved, he took his shirt off, jumped into the water (the same pond water that we would not dare to jump into due to all the plants that your feet could get caught on, or all the leaches). After staying down there for a little while he came back up with some green plants in his hands which he handed one to each one of us. He had gone down there and collected lily pad seeds. He taught us how to eat them, and I have to tell you that after trying them, I fell in love with the flavor immediately. He had returned a small favor to my dad, by jumping into that water and getting us each some lily pad seeds.

This story might not have a significant meaning for you, but as a child, I learned that when you bless someone, you get blessed even more. In this case, my dad blessed someone, and through that, his whole family was blessed with something new and unique. There is always a reward for an act of kindness.

Luke 6:38 
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

I Am Yours!

So many people often do things in pursuit of love or being loved. People make decisions upon decisions to feel wanted, needed, and loved. Yet, often, it just seems like there isn't any love left in the world. Often it seems like you are all alone surrounded by a lot of people whom do not know how your heart really feels. You desire love, but no one loves you the way you want. Then you start asking yourself  "What is wrong with me?", "Why doesn't anybody want me?". When you start asking yourself these questions, the enemy knows that you are an easy target, and tries to lead you to a trap of hatred. You start looking at people differently. The love you desired so long, becomes a vivid memory which you have given up on. Life becomes nothing, but YOU! It becomes all about you and you forget others. You say to yourself, "If no one loves me, then I will love myself the most?". You start doing everything for your own.

The sad reality is that you, forget who you really belong to. You forget your true love. You forget that God has never left you. He has never stopped loving you! He wants you in His arms and wants to show you the affection that no one else can give you. You seek love, but you have forgotten the source of it's existence is within Him. What if you go back and let Him love you? What if you give yourself to Him and instead of all the silly questions you ask yourself so often you tell Him, "I am yours!". Would you still lack love! I guess you can never find out until you try! 

Psalm 31:7-10 

I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place. Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.

Would You Just Listen???

This week, my daughter who is two and a half years old, would ignore pretty much everything my wife and I would  tell her not to do. We would tell her to not touch something for her own good, she would not listen, and in one extreme case, my wife told her to not drink the soap, and she did it anyway. After drinking the soap she got sick and threw up everything she had eaten that day. When I was holding her and trying to comfort her, I thought to myself, is this what we do to our Heavenly Father? Does he keep telling us to not do some things for our own good, yet we keep ignoring him, till we get hurt? Think about this for a minute, as a parent I don't want my daughter hurt in any way, but I also want her to listen to me when I ask her to do things that are for her own good. When she doesn't listen, it hurts my heart, and when she hurts herself because of not listening to me, it hearts my heart even more.

What if we listen to God more carefully and obey Him? Have you tried paying attention to what He is telling you not to do lately? If not, know that when you ignore Him, you will get hurt because you will make wrong decisions, and more than that you will hurt His heart. He loves you way more than wanting to see you get hurt and He wants to embrace you in His arms.

John 8:47 
Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

John 10:27-28
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Know That Your PM

A couple weeks ago I wrote about your AM (Attitude Matters). Today I want to remind you of the importance of knowing that your PM (Prayers Matter).
Often we underestimate the power of prayer, but the reality is that prayers do work. Your prayers are one of the ways that God unleashes His power in your and other people's lives. If your prayers were not important, would God constantly tell us to pray in His word. In fact through out the scripture, the power of prayer is evident and we need to take prayer seriously. If you don't believe me, do a Google search on "Prayer in the Bible".

One of the most important things to know about prayer is that prayer is the way you communicate with God. That is why Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-8 "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." If you don't talk to the person you are trying to have a relationship with, then you won't have much of a relationship. The same thing applies to God. If you want to have a close relationship with Him, then you need to make sure you pray continually.

So, perhaps every time you see PM, you can remember that your prayers matter and God enjoys talking and listening to you. 

Should I Cuss?

Lately one of the things that has been bothering me has been hearing Christians cuss or seeing them post bible verses on their Facebook page one minute and then cuss somebody or something out the next. A questions most Christians often ask is, "Is it OK to cuss?"

Well, in order to be able to answer this question, we need to be looking at who our role model is. Is your role model in your life, your friend, your co-worker, your parents or someone else? Although the people who are your role models poses beautiful qualities that attract you, your first role model should always be Jesus. You should always try to look more like Him and compare the actions of those whom you gravitate towards with Jesus. So, if your friend whom you try to imitate, constantly swears, then should you really want to imitate him. Through all the four gospels, can you see Jesus cuss once? 

You have to realize that your bodies are a temple for God. Can you make a temple unholy? Yes. Should you make the temple unholy? No. I love the way James describes this concept in his letter. 

James 3: 9-12 

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

You have to also realize that everything that comes out of your mouth and thoughts, can either build lives or destroy them. As Christians we are called to build people up and lead them closer to God. 

Ephesians 4:29 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

So, when you post things on social media, or when you say things in front of others, just think of what you are posting or saying and try to glorify God with your spoken and written words.

Why People Leave a Church

Lately this question has been in my mind and I have been wondering about the reasons why people leave a church? As I thought about this and compared it to my own church, I came up with four reasons that cause people to leave a church.

1. Too far of a commute
People often leave a church, because they either move to a different location or after going to a church for a while they see that it is too long of a commute for them, so they choose to go to a church closer to where they live.

2. Called somewhere else
Some leave a church, because they are called to go into a different ministry, such as planting a new church, missions field, or other ministry opportunities that God puts in front of them. This is a noble reason to leave the church; however it needs to be done in the right manner. Unfortunately many use this reason to justify the third reason that I am going to talk about.

3. Disagreement with someone or something
The sad truth is that many leave a church because they are in disagreement with a person (in leadership or church attender), or they leave because they do not agree with the church polity. Although there are occasions that this is done correctly, in most cases these people leave to their own selfishness and their own desires. Just because the church, or the leadership and the people do not operate the way these people like, they choose to leave the church. They don't involve God into the equation and ask Him what he wants. This is usually a sign of immaturity in their faith. What if God wants to use the thing you disagree with to grow you in your faith, or to make that church a better place by having you voice your concerns?

4. The Cult church
Many go to a church and later on find out that the church they attend is not based on a biblical foundation, the church simply makes up things as they go, follow certain traditions, or their focus is on someone/something else other than Jesus. The church is a cult. The reality is that there are so many churches that are not Bible based, so it is easy to fall into the trap of cult churches. That's why maturity in faith, and reading your Bible will help determine whether or not you should go to a church or not to begin with.

These are the four reasons that I came up with. Regardless of what you ever decide now or in the future, make sure that you understand the importance of being in the church body. Think about this for a minute, When wolves attack a herd of animals and try to hunt, their tactic is to separate one from the herd, then they can kill the animal. It is the same for us, if Satan can separate you from the church body, then it is much easier for him to lead you to spiritual death or an eternity of torment.

Know That Your AM

So, What does AM stand for? Some of you might think I am talking about the morning (Before Midday), No, but if that helps you remember what I am talking about here, that's great. AM to me stands for "Attitude Matters". It is all about your attitude and for you to know that your attitude matters.

Have you ever tried to do something that you don't really want to do and your attitude towards it is not as good as it should be? Well, here is the problem, when you go into doing something with a bad attitude, you are most likely to do a terrible job with it and on top of that, you will drag other people who have a good attitude about the same thing down.

This happens a lot in ministry when we are asked to do something for the glory of our God, but we have a terrible attitude towards it. What we neglect to understand is that if you are doing something for God, and you are doing it with a bad attitude, you might as well stop and not do it, because what God cares about is not what you do, but where your heart is with the thing that you are doing. Remember, that God doesn't need you to do something for Him, He has simply given you the privilege to have a part in His plan. Don't deceive yourself, because the reality is that you can't really lead people to follow God, if you are not with Him at that moment.

So next time when you try to do something (regardless of what it is) stop and think about  AM. In the morning when you get up and you look at the time, on your computer or your phone and you see the time next to the letters AM, remember that at that time your attitude matters!

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, "Philippians 2:14-15"

Appreciate The Moment

I was thinking recently about all the good and bad things in my life that have happened in the past and thinking to myself how I wish I had some moments back, and how I wish to not ever experience some of them again. As I was thinking about this though, I was reminded that I do not live for the past, but for the future.

It is hard to learn to appreciate the moments and be thankful for all the good memories you have. Yet it is easy to be dissatisfied with what you have right now and forget all the blessings you have had.

It is never too late to start though, you can start recalling your good memories and giving thanks to God for them. It could be as simple as remembering a good time with your wife, kid(s), family, or a friend and thanking God that you got a chance to have those times. Life does not always go the way we like it to go, but learning to appreciate good moments and creating lasting memories out of them can help us go through hard times much easier. Because we will know that all things pass, weather good or bad.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Soloness

Do you ever think and tell yourself that: "I can do things better on my own", "I don't need others to help me", "Life is so much better without others", "All people do is hurting me", and so on ....?

You know, the truth is that people often slow us down from what we want to do, they keep us from our passions, our desires, but without people around us we are nothing! As hard as it might be to deal with people sometimes, God intended for us to Love one another and care for another, knowing full well that we would hurt each other. Why would he do that? If you ask me, I will tell you that if He didn't, then we would never learn how valuable the life He has given us is. We would have never gained wisdom.

When Jesus started His ministry, He chose twelve to be His disciples. What if he had not chosen anyone? Would he have a ministry? Would he have left a legacy behind? Would anyone know and hear that He was the Son of God?

We need one another. Anytime we chose to do life alone we fall into Satan's trap.


Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” (NLT

Better to be Like Him

We live in times where people do not know the true meaning of integrity. We live in times where everyone only cares for himself, his own position and his own wellbeing. The truth of the matter is that when you are betrayed and stabbed in the back, it is hard to forgive and to love those who have hurt you.  

I was recently reminded of a verse!

When my wife and I got married, we chose 1 John 4:19 as our life verse.

1 John 4:19 says “ We love because He first loved us.” We wanted this verse to signify something in our lives. To be a constant reminder in our marriage and our relationship with others.

Personally I don’t want to love, I don’t want to care, and I don't want to forgive, but if I don’t, what is the difference between me and the one who has betrayed or hurt me?

I want to choose to be better. I was a betrayer once, but Jesus loved me and died for me. I want to be like him……